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Bolboforma — an overview

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Abstract

A summary of the present knowledge ofBolboforma is presented in this paper. The genusBolboforma contains a diverse group of marine, mostly single-chambered enigmatic microfossils (phytoplankton, possibly Chrysophyta) which produced calcitic monocrystalline spheroidal tests with or without inner cysts and with various types of ornamentation. The genusBolboforma occurs in the time interval between late Early Eocene to Late Pliocene, at middle and higher latitudes, and thus, has not been recorded in Quaternary to Recent Sediments. The genus is represented globally, but the first and the last occurrence of the genus appear to be spatially diachronous in both hemispheres.Bolboforma started in the southern hemisphere at the Campbell Plateau (SW Pazific) during the Early Eocene approximately 53 Ma ago, and the genus lived there until latest Miocene times (5.3 Ma at the Kerguelen Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean). The first occurrence ofBolboforma in the northern hemisphere is observed in Upper Eocene Sediments (ca. 36.5 Ma) in the Labrador Sea (North Atlantic), and its youngest occurrence is observed in the Hatton-Rockall Basin (North Atlantic) in the Late Pliocene at 2.84 Ma. Well established and common species permit the definition of nineteenBolboforma zones/subzones. Not all of these are observed in both hemispheres. In the southern hemisphere all four Paleogene zones, but only eight Neogene zones are present, in the northern hemisphere only one Paleogene zone, but fourteen Neogene zones have been determined.

Bolboforma distribution, which appears to be broadly bipolar in temperate to cool regions at middle to higher latitudes, aso seems to be linked to the evolution of surface watermasses and their boundaries.

Kurzfassung

Der Wissensstand zuBolboforma wird dargestellt. Zur GattungBolboforma werden Mikrofossilien (Phytoplankton, Chrysophyta ?) gestellt, die zwiebeiförmige, einkammerige, selten länglich-zweikammerige, unterschiedlich ornamentierte, monokristallin-kalzitische Gehäuse, mit und ohne innere Zysten, ausbilden. Bolboformen werden weltweit in marinen Sedimenten des unteren Eozän bis oberen Pliozän, hauptsächlich in mittleren bis hohen Breiten, beobachtet. Das erste und letzte Auftreten von Bolboformen ist in beiden Hemisphären zeitlich unterschiedlich zu datieren: ihre Entwicklung startete im frühen Eozän vor ca. 53 Ma in der südlichen Hemisphäre (Campbell Plateau, SW Pazifik), und ihr letztes Auftreten wurde dort im späten Miozän vor 5.3 Ma (Kerguelen Plateau, S Indik) beobachtet. In der nördlichen Hemisphäre wurden sie erst im späten Eozän vor ca. 36.5 Ma (Labrador Sea, N Atlantik) beobachtet, und das jüngste Auftreten ist im späten Pliozän vor 2.84 Ma (Hatton-Rockall Basin, N Atlantik) zu vermerken. Gut zu unterscheidende und häufige Arten definieren neunzehnBolboforma Zonen/Subzonen. Nicht alle Zonen werden in beiden Hemisphären beobachtet. So sind in der südlichen Hemisphäre zwar alle vierBolboforma Zonen des Paläogens präsent, aber nur acht der neogenenBolboforma Zonen. Für die nördliche Hemisphäre sind nur eine paläogene, aber 14 neogeneBolboforma Zonen belegt. Die biogeographische Verteilung der Bolboformen ist an die Entwicklung der Oberflächen-Wassermassen und ihrer Begrenzungen gekoppelt.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz-Institute of Marine Sciences, IFM-GEOMAR, Wischhofstraße 1-3, D-24148, Kiel, Germany

    Dorothee Spiegler

  2. Departement of Geosciences, Geology and Paleontology, Perolles, University of Fribourg, Ch. du Musée, CH-1770, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Silvia Spezzaferri

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  1. Dorothee Spiegler
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  2. Silvia Spezzaferri
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Spiegler, D., Spezzaferri, S. Bolboforma — an overview. Paläontol Z 79, 167–181 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03021760

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